


drift away

by calrissianns



Category: Green Eggs and Ham (Cartoon), Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
Genre: Angst and Fluff, F/F, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Mother-Son Relationship, Songfic, gay sam i am, gluntzchellee is implied at end, i mean kind of lmao, i was listening to the SU soundtrack and this just hit me, sam's mom isn't horrible but she isn't great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21508429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calrissianns/pseuds/calrissianns
Summary: They always leave and Sam is always left patiently waiting, as they all drift away.
Relationships: Gluntz/Michellee (implied), Guy Am I/Sam I Am (Green Eggs and Ham), Sam I Am & his mother
Comments: 29
Kudos: 167





	1. part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to the Steven Universe Movie Soundtrack and damn this song fits so well! I'd like to thank @thejollymilano for being such a good and kind friend and an encouragement in my life! I love you 3000!

It’s been twenty-three years but he remembers it like it was yesterday. He inhales as he looks at the familiar building, running his hand along the brick wall. Guy stands next to him, solemn and silent. 

“It’s so… run down now,” he whispers. For him it’s normally easy to find the bright side of everything, but how can he here? The place of so much pain. “It’s weird coming back.”

“I bet,” Guy replies, looking at the ground. “Do you remember much? Coming back?” 

“Some things.” He walks towards the garden. “This is where we… last spent time together.” 

_~~~~~~~_

_Here in the garden_

_Let’s play a game_

The five year old stood there, his hand in his mother’s. They’re at a new place today, and he loves going to new places. Especially with his mom.

He sees the beautiful garden in the front, filled with hydrangeas, his mom’s favorite flower. He began to exclaim, smiling at her. She smiles. 

“You’re very sweet, Sam.” She takes his hand and leads him out of the car. 

“What is this place?” he asks. 

His mother, without looking at him, smiles tightly. “I just have some things to do here. Don’t worry. Just wait out here.”

_Here in the garden_

_Stand very still_

Sam has never minded playing outside, in fact he loves it. He enjoys finding lizards and worms, occasionally making small houses for them if he can find the tools.

_And then she smiled_

_That’s what I’m after_

_A smile in her eyes_

_The sound of her laughter_

He begins to build a house for two lizards, knowing his mother will enjoy it. She always laughs and nuzzles his hair, telling him he should be an architect one day. He loves to make her laugh, loves to make her happy. He knows life is hard, how she doesn’t have too much money. 

_Happily waiting_

_All on my own_

She came out of the building shortly, and he jumps to his feet. “Mama! Mama! I built something!” But this time she does not laugh, instead, he sees tears in her eyes.

“Mom? Are you okay?” he asks. “What’s wrong?”

She can’t face him, and he feels his knees shaking. “Mom? Mom please?” 

“Samuel,” she kneels in front of him. “This is...the last thing I wanted to do.”

“What?” he asks.

_Happy to listen_

“I just. Need to protect you… I’m running out of options.” She hangs her head. “You will probably hate me. I know.”

“I could never hate my mom!” he tries to smile, try to know what’s going on. “Can we go home now?”

“This...is your home.”

_Happy to play_

“So we’re moving?”

The tears are flowing out of his mom’s eyes now as he reaches out to hug her. “No Sam, you are.” 

“What?”

“It’s safer for you to stay here. Better. And maybe one day… if things get better..”

“Mom?” She gets up and shortly comes back with a small briefcase from the trunk. 

“I packed this for you. I want you to know I love you, I do, that’s why I have to do this.” 

_Happily watching her_

He is crying now. “Where are you-”

“I need to make a living, carry on. I’m sorry,” she pulled him close to her. “But the people here, they’re really kind. You’ll make so many new friends, I promise you.” 

And so she takes off, getting in her car.

_Drift away_

And Sam-I-Am, for the first of many times in his life, is alone. 

_Happily waiting_

_All on my own_

_Under the endless sky_

The first year he sits by the window, looking outside, waiting for the same old red car to pull in front of the building, there to take him back home. His roommates look at him pityingly, especially Dan, his bunkmate who is only two years older.

“I get it. My dad left too. At least she left you with clothes. I had nothing. I had to wear Miss Emmy’s clothes for a long time,” he says, fiddling with some building toys. Dan and Sam became good friends, as Sam would often talk to him about his mother. When he is nine years old he starts to realize how pretty Dan’s eyes are, and how he thinks it’s so cool the things he can build with those toys.

Dan waits with him at the window sometimes, drawing things he wants to build with the toys, so one day he can eventually do it himself. 

But one day it changes, the day he sees Dan walking hand in hand with an elderly couple, out the door. 

_Counting the seconds_

_Standing alone_

_As years go by_

He steals from the local supermarket that day at thirteen years old. He isn’t proud of it, in fact he feels horrible for the poor store owner. But he has to, because if he makes the headlines, his mom might see it. She will know he is still out there.

He knows it’s horrible and manipulative, but he hopes that maybe if he gets in enough trouble, she will want to come back and teach him better behavior. Anything, anything at all, to get her back in his life. To get closure.

_Happily wondering_

_Night after night_

_Is this how it works?_

_Am I doing it right?_

He smiles as he takes the rolled up piece of paper from the man onstage. He’s finally eighteen, ready to leave and make his own mark on the world.

He looks all over for her. Ordering meal after meal, looking for the only trace of her he has left. He takes job after job, feeling worse and worse every time. But he has to. It’s the only way he can travel.

He is ready to find her.

_You keep on turning pages for people who don't care_

“There’s a reason people haven’t stuck around this long, Sam. Believe me, I know. I’ve tried. I’ve _tried_ you as a friend! You don’t fit!”

_People who don't care about you_

“You don’t fit anybody. Not even your own mother.” He feels his heart sink but he knows it to be true.

_And still, it takes you ages to see that no one's there_

He wishes he would’ve stopped sooner. Maybe he could’ve been different, had a normal life.

Stopped chasing people who didn’t want him around.

_See that no one's there_

He sits alone, thinking of all he’s betrayed.

_See that no one's there_

He misses Dan, he misses Guy, he misses his mother.

_Everyone's gone on without you_

And he sighs.

~~~

He feels his friend’s arm around him. “Geez… that must’ve been so hard for you, Sam. I’m.. sorry.”

“It’s okay. I mean… if that all didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have met, right?” Sam asks. He wipes tears from his eyes and runs into his friend’s arms. “I think I’m ready to go, if that’s okay.”

Guy nods. “Are you going to ask me to carry you to the car again?”

“Yes.” Guy rolls his eyes but obliges, rolling his eyes at his friend. 

And they drift away. Together.


	2. part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue in which Sam learns the truth of his mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I wanted to add another chapter/epilogue!

_ Finally something _

_ Finally news  _

_ Of how the story ends _

His feet are on the gas pedal while his friend beside him warns him to slow down. Slow down so the cops won’t come.

He’s not worried about the cops he just knows: he’s going to be there soon. His mom is going to be there.

He pulls into the road by the farm, driving past numerous crops as the bumps shake him. His breaths are getting more rapid, and taking his friend’s hand, he jumps out of the car.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” He exclaims, running up to path to the house.

_ She doesn’t exist now _

He hopes she’s there, she has to be. After all this time, the search is over.

He goes to the door, raising his fist to knock. “You can do it,” Guy whispers behind him.

He nods, and raps the wooden door three times.

_ Survived  _

The door unlocks.

_ By _

It opens.

_ Her _

It is not his mother who is standing there.

_ Son _

It’s a little boy. He has the same eyes as Sam, the same white tufts of fur on his head.

_ And all of her brand new friends _

“Who is it?” asks a voice in the background. 

The owner of the voice comes to the door next to the little boy. There are voices from another room, as he can see, eating turkey and casserole, spread all over the table. 

“Ana! Someone is here!” the man yells.

_ Isn’t that lovely _

“No. No it’s okay.” Sam hangs his head. “It’s the.. wrong house.” 

_ Isn’t that cool _

He takes another look through the window. He feels as if he was so blind before, looking towards the door instead of what was in front of him. His mother, sitting by lovely friends and family.

What he never got.

_ And isn’t that cruel _

She did better her life, but she never called or told him.

_ And aren’t I a fool _

All of this… for nothing. Guy is standing there but he runs past him, running towards a mass of corn stalks. He doesn’t want to face anyone right now. 

_ To have _

He hears the sound of footsteps on the ground. The corn is pushed aside by someone tall, someone familiar.

_ Happily listened _

“I’m so…” his friend says, hanging his head. “So sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything, only wraps his arms around him as his tears fall.

_ Happy to stay _

They sit there for a while, saying nothing. “No matter how many other sons she has, they will never be better than you.”

_ Happily watching her _

Guy drives them home as Sam presses his face against the window, watching the farm fade further and further out of sight.

_ Drift _

They arrive at the house that night as EB runs up to the car. “How did it go?”

Sam shakes his head and EB’s face falls. She soon hugs him as the three walk through the door.

_ Drift _

He sees Michellee in the living room, Gluntz asleep on her shoulder. He smiles at her sadly, and Michellee frowns.

“You okay?” she whispers.

“I think I will be. I always end up okay.” Sam smiles, nuzzling his face back into Guy, who leads him into the other room, opening the refrigerator for Sam’s dinner, ready to be heated up.

_ Drift away _

And he begins to feel better. Because while his mom got a family, he did too. As he feels his hand in Guy’s and Michellee, EB, and Gluntz all together, he lets his mom out of his mind.

He lets her memory drift away.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> why yes i am a sixteen year old writing fanfic about dr seuss characters at 11:30 at night even though i have a psychology presentation tomorrow


End file.
